Speeches

Training

Terrorism has no place in Islam: Sufi scholar

Sufi scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri Wednesday said that peace is the source
and crux of Islam, and that terrorism has no place in the religion.

Qadri, the Pakistan-based founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran, was delivering a lecture
at the India Islamic Centre to mark the launch of his book, ‘Fatwa on terrorism
and suicide bombings’.

The book is the English translation of a 600-page fatwa, in Urdu, issued in March
2010. A statement released at the venue described it as, “one of the most extensive
Islamic anti-terrorism rulings, an absolute condemnation of terrorism without any
excuses or pretexts....”

The Minaj-ul-Quran International is a Lahore-headquartered NGO founded in 1981.
According to the organisation’s website, its aims include, “reviving the true values
and principles of Islam”.

In his hour-long speech, Qadri sought to separate the usage of the word ‘Islam’
with violence: “...terms like Islamic Terrorism, Islamic Radicalism, Islamic Terrorists
have come to be used in common parlance these days... why don’t we talk about Islamic
Literature or Islamic Economic Theory? On the other hand, when Islam is used with
a word like terrorism, it is implied that the act of terror is Islamic.”